Literature And Official Scholar-bureaucrat System Of Ming Dynasty

The most important purpose of this thesis is to considerably restore the original mainstream scholar-bureaucrat literature under official academy system and its literature effect, as well as to modify the constant image of such literature, which has been recognized as relatively tranditional, conservative and along with politic authority purpose. In addition, the thesis also includes: to avoid the marginalization of the mainstream literature and the conceptualization of the works of typical authors by the narration of the today's literature history. The interaction among literature elements from different society levels is also emphasized in this thesis to further reveal the real value of the tranditional scholar-bureaucrat literature.Chapter one emphasizes on the relationship between the imperial academy system and the literature of the Ming dynasty, and explores how the government effectively controlled the discourse power of literary with the support from the imperial academy. Firstly, the author introduces several functions of the imperial academy, considered as an official culture agency accordingly. The author also pays special attention on the practical literature which was created in the political space, in order to explain why the literature can be controlled by the government. With the aids from the creation of the formal literary forms such as Zhao, Gao, Biao and Jian, the imperial academy urged on the public documents reformation; with the Jingyan and Guwen(two kinds of official literary functions for emperor), the imperial academy can effectively set up the emperor's conception of literature and guided his interest on the literature; with the holding of the Xiangshi and Huishi(two kinds of official examinations), the imperial academy changed the general mood of the imperial exams and had a great impact on the whole society; Compiling of Yuan Shi and Shi Lu(two kind of history records), the imperial academy controlled the discourse power of history, made clear the attitudes of the government towards literature, and gave conclusions on the actions of some writers. Secondly, the author introduces the duties of officials who are considered as literary servants in imperial academy, and probes into the pan-cultural function of official literature that represented imperial demand. According to the difference of writers' initiative, the author not only divides the works into two types - Yingzhi(demand from emperor) and Jincheng(submit actively), but also discusses the functions, mentalities and development respectively. According to the difference of institutional system-related backgrounds, the author classifies the works into six types: paying tributes to the emperor, announcing auspicious signs to the emperor, allowing to visit by the emperor during festivals, following the emperor to go out, romancing the atmosphere of official ceremonies, and the advise to the emperor; explores the composed status and cultural meaning of every work type, and then investigates the attitudes of the scholars who are not officials in imperial academy towards these work types in detail. At last, the author introduces the directive function of imperial academy literature; emphasizes on the Zheng (formal) and Bian (change) of the scholar-bureaucrat literature in the imperial academy system as well as the subtle difference among Taige style, Guange style and Hanlin Style. The author also introduces the action of Wen Gui Guan Ge(the discourse power of literary return to the imperial academy). Taking the extensive learning (one character of the scholar-bureaucrat literature) as an example, the author further discusses how the official and non-official literature interacted each other.The key point of the second chapter is the discussion about the relationship between Hanlin Bachelor system and the literature of Ming dynasty. By training up Hanlin bachelors, the government successfully set up a series of official literary standards within imperial academy at basic level. Firstly, the author introduces the Hanlin bachelors selection and its potential literary impact on the society. Newly-became imperial scholars, with an extremely special mind to be members of the imperial academy, were very active in the Hanlin bachelor selection, because the imperial academy gave them the honor of being a politician as well as a writer simultaneously. The members of the imperial academy were so proud of self-identification as a deputy of official literature, while they apparently discriminated Ye Hanlin (Hanlin officials who were not imperial scholars before being selected) and Zhe Hanlin (Hanlin officials who were withdraw from the imperial academy). Secondly, in Ming dynasty, Wen Zhang Zheng Zhong, Tang Yin and Tang Shi Zheng Sheng were chronologically taken as official templates for teaching Hanlin Bachelors, so that the tradition of poetics and imperial essay were continued and strengthened. Geshi and Guanshi, who worked as instructors in imperial academy, played a very important role in training newly-became Hanlin bachelors, they guided newly-became Hanlin bachelors on scholar-bureaucrat culture, configuration of knowledge, pan-literature and belles-lettres. At last, during Geshi and Guanke (official exams and lessons in the imperial academy) the traditional articles and Tang poems were focused on, which was extremely different from the focus of Bagu Essay (eight - part essay) in imperial examination. By learning the different forms of writing, Hanlin bachelors made clear conception about the function of each literature form and the differences between them; by learning the different routines of poem and using the standards of emperor, politics and literature, Hanlin bachelors regulated the idea and style of the official literature. On the other hand, the author also pays attention to the topic that how the common people felt about the training of Hanlin bachelor, by discussing whether the training of Hanlin bachelor were valuable in literature history.In chapter three, following four primary lines-Tongguan (scholars that worked in the imperial academy), Tongcao (scholars that worked in the same government department), Tongnian (scholars that passed the entrance exam in same year) and Tongxiang (scholars from the same county), the author makes a review of the gathering for poem-writing among scholar-bureaucrats in capital, and brings up the idea that literature in Ming dynasty can be classified into three categories—Guange (imperial academy), Langshu (government department) and Shanlin (countryside) literature. Firstly, according to the difference of the gathering scene, the author divids the gatherings of imperial academy into three types—political space, public space, private space. Then the author separated these gatherings into nine types according to the institutional system background-Zhaisu Changhe (held on the eve of ceremonies), Suzhi Changhe (held among the officials that on duty by night), Yuanwei Changhe (held in official examinations among the supervisors), Shiguan Changhe (when write and compile historical works), Daoren Changhe (when Newly-became get into the imperial academy), Lizeng Changhe(when official have to leave his post), Jiehui Changhe (when festival arrives), Shanghua Tiyong (when appreciate the flower) and Yingzhou Yahui (held in Nanjing by the officials who were in imperial academy). As the situation of the poem gatherings in capital changes, we can clearly find that the identification and authority of the official scholars change correspondently. Secondly, the author explores which kind of environment the government literature of Ming dynasty took place in, and describes the tradition of Board of Punishment literature, which formed after Chenghua period. Taking the development of Liangjing Langshu poem gathering (gatherings holding in government department of Beijing and Nanjing) as a clue, the author depicts such dynamic process where Ming dynasty power of literature are continuously scattered, and mainstream literature drops down as time going. Based on the fact that the poem gathering holding in government got rid of the atmosphere of imperial academy, the thesis shows that the government department literature are related with imperial academy literature; According to the fact that the government poem gathering in Nanjing got rid of the political atmosphere, the thesis also shows that the government department literature are related with city and countryside literature. Thirdly, the author also takes a look at the backgrounds of Tongnian gathering in capital (gathering holding by the scholars that passed the entrance exam in the same year), and reset the scene of this typical gathering. The thesis studies the important impact of the Tongnian factor on their choice of literary groups and development. At last, the author introduces the normal and special form of the Tongxiang gathering (scholars from the same county). Taking Anfu and Suzhou Tongxiang gathering as two examples, the author shows that the development of local literature gives a great concussion on the central (official) literature at that time. On the other hand, takes the tradition of old-intellectual-gathering in both imperial academy and local as an opposite example, shows us that the central (official) literature affected local literature at the same time.In chapter four, the author selects five literary forms of belles-letters (Fu, Siliu Wen, Zhenti, Lianzhu and Yuanzhangti Sanqu) and explores their trends under the backgrounds of imperial academy of Ming dynasty. On the one hand, with belief in Zheng (politics) and Dao (moral), these articles firmly followed the Confucianism, on the other hand, they also updated themselves in many aspects. Firstly, taking Guange Fu (one kind of literary forms) of Ming dynasty as example, the author discusses why the articles written under the political space are very different from those written under public space and private space. Through the agency of the imperial academy literary forms, the concept of "Wen Yi Zai Dao" (articles are expressions of moral) helped to build the order of the official literature. Secondly, the change of practical literature and Yingzhi literature in imperial academy has had great impact on the development of Siliu Wen of Ming dynasty. Siliu Wen disappeared in the early period of Ming dynasty because of some policies of government, and rose again together with Qingci in Jiajing period of Ming dynasty, gradually affected other literature forms as well as private space. Thirdly, the author also takes Zhenti and Lianzhu (two kinds of literary forms, aim at persuading people) as examples to explain how the persuading function adhere and mutate in these official literature forms, and how these forms breakthrough themselves under the impact of non-official thinking and trend to be private. At last, starting from the system of rites and music, and combining with the duties of Board of Rites and imperial academy, the author explores how the writing methods and forms of Yuezhang and Yuege change in the etiquette of Ming dynasty. The author wants to make the history of Yuezhang—which has been neglected for a long time—reappeared, and further discusses how this form used for reference and altered popular literature Ci and Qu,—which are prosperous after Song and Yuan dynasty.